HTC may have gotten its Androids past customs, but the legal battles Apple wages against other smartphone manufacturers are far from over. The latest phone to find itself the target of Apple’s wrath is, unsurprisingly, the biggest phone around at the moment; yesterday Apple brought forward a motion to add the Galaxy S III to its request for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus, set to receive a hearing tomorrow.

Apple’s complaints against the GS3 aren’t anything new, and consist of two of the four patents it’s accusing the Galaxy Nexus of violating. Those include the so-called “data tapping” patent, which Apple has already successfully leveraged against HTC, as well as a universal search patent that may provide ammunition to be used against S Voice.

So far, Samsung’s not backing down from its GS3 launch plans, stating, “Apple’s pending Preliminary Injunction Motion will have no bearing on the release date of the Galaxy S III”. That may just be putting on a strong face, because there could be a real possibility that plans to have the GS3 available for sale from US carriers in just a couple of weeks could be impacted by this request. It’s too early to make many predictions of just how things could go, so we’ll be keeping an eye on developments, especially following tomorrow’s hearing, to try and learn just what this could mean for those launch plans.

Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bitsRead more about Stephen Schenck!